The Island, And What The Doctor Found There
by Speckled Jim
Summary: A Lost/Doctor Who crossover. When the Doctor and Donna arrive on the Island to investigate the time travel which has been going on, they have no idea that they are about to shape the future of the Island and the survivors in ways that they never expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Three Years Ago…**

As John Locke ascended in the elevator from the hidden level of the Orchid station and set out to finally take up his role as leader of the people who, until very recently, he had referred to as the 'Others', Benjamin Linus was still making his way downward into the heart of the Island. Through the fissure he had created in the back of the vault and down the rickety wooden ladder into the concealed ice chamber, he slipped the last couple of rungs and came crashing to the frosty floor with a crunch of ice. He stood up gingery and with a little difficulty on the slippery surface of the cave and looked down at his arm which was concealed by the sleeve of his Dharma Parker. A splinter of wood from the ladder had buried itself deep within his arm and a small amount of blood was pouring out from the wound. Ben reached down and pulled out the sharp piece of wood as he advanced on the far wall of the cavern. It was covered in hieroglyphics and had an old, wooden wheel embedded in it, like a donkey wheel.

Ben knew instinctively that this was what he was supposed to do. Jacob had said this to John, and he was now paying the price for failing to serve the Island. He had not known exactly what it would look like: as far as he knew, none of his people – even Richard – had ever come this close to the source. When he stopped to think about it properly, there were quite a lot of mysteries which even he did not know the answer to, and in some respects he was no better off than the survivors of Oceanic 815. He didn't even know where this frozen donkey wheel had come from or who had constructed it, but he knew that it was a method of last resorts by which to move the Island. He knew that all of the past leaders of his people – including Widmore and Hawking – knew this too, but he had no idea what this action would have on some of the inhabitants of the Island.

'I hope you're happy now, Jacob' he murmured, almost to himself. Self-pity and melancholy could be heard clearly in his voice and seen in his face as he gripped the wheel and, after dislodging it from its previous position where it had become frozen in place; he began to turn it in a clockwise direction. It took considerable physical and mental strength to move it, and the slippery texture of the cave floor made it even more difficult. As he began to make progress, a bright light shone from the wheel itself and as he was enveloped in it and disappeared into the unknown, he felt a fear which he hadn't felt since his early childhood, before he had arrived on the Island. He was almost positive that he would never return and as he was transported through space and time, the Island was experiencing a similar movement.

From their position on the Helicopter, the Oceanic 6 saw their former home disappear, leaving open sea in its place.

**Present Day**

'So, let me just get this right' Donna was saying to the Doctor as he ran around the TARDIS, flipping switches and turning wheels, 'We're going to an _island_?' Disbelief was evident in her voice, as was a touch of disappointment. She had become used to travelling with the Doctor by now and was accustomed to his journeys into the past or distant future, or to exotic planets in other galaxies. If she wanted to go to a boring _island_ on present day earth then she would go on a package holiday with her mum.

Donna was an adventurer at heart. Even before she had met the Doctor she had been moving from job to job working as a Temp, unable to settle anywhere for long. And after she met him, her life changed forever. She saw the creation of Earth from on board the TARDIS and left the Doctor to explore her own back yard. She began an investigative career with hopes of meeting the Doctor again, unwilling to let him go again. She had become addicted to the drama and adventure which was associated with the Doctor and which seemed to follow him around. She was going to stay with him forever and the prospect of going back to a normal life was laughable. With this in mind, the idea of going to a sparsely populated island in the South Pacific was a little dull to her. She watched the Doctor make some final adjustments to the controls and then went to sit beside him as he settled down on the bench against the wall.

'It's not _just_ and island' he said as he turned to her. He had an excited twinkle in his eye and was smiling broadly. This convinced Donna more than anything else that she had been wrong to suspect a boring trip – the Doctor was even more into drama and adventure than her.

'Go on then, lets have it' she said, smiling as well by now, 'what is it about this island that's got you all worked up?'

'Well, it seems to be travelling in time' he said.

'What, the whole island? Like the TARDIS?'

'That's the thing though' he said, becoming serious again. 'Only the Time Lords ever had control of the technology capable of time travel. Sure, the Daleks knew how to perform emergency temporal shifts but nothing as precise or localised as this. And that makes me think that something is happening on that island which has something to do with my people. I know for sure that I am the last of the Time Lords – at one point I would have suspected the Master but I watched him die…it's always a possibility though…'

His train of thought trailed off as Donna took in what had just been said. 'So, if you're so sure that it isn't a Time Lord then what do you think?'

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, as though he had been deep in concentration, and looked back at her. 'I'm not sure' he admitted, 'but were gonna find out' he said, smiling again as he jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together. The TARDIS had arrived at its destination and he ran to the doors and flung them open.

Donna could see a sandy beach through the doors and knew that if the TARDIS's protection didn't stop extraneous weather conditions from affecting those inside, she would be able to feel the heat of a warm sun on her face. This heat, as well as the dampness of the humid air and the sound and spray of the sea all assaulted her as she stepped out onto the sand. The Doctor took off his long brown overcoat and threw it back into the TARDIS before locking its doors and putting the key around his neck. They walked a short distance down the beach and then turned back to look at the TARDIS. It looked absurd stood in the sun on a tropical beach, looking for all the world like an English Police Box. The Doctor sighed and looked a little sheepishly at Donna. 'It's times like this that I really wish I had taken the time to fix the chameleon circuit' he said with another sigh.

Donna was busy thinking. The Doctor had set the TARDIS to land nearby the largest congregation of people on the island, so that they could begin collecting information and evidence immediately. However, as she looked around the beach and squinted into the darker jungle which bordered it, she could see nobody besides the Doctor and herself. She expressed this concern to the Doctor.

'Look down' he said with a grin.

'What?'

'Just look down'. He was smiling at her like a Cheshire Cat and so she looked down and immediately saw what he was talking about: there were multiple sets of footprints in the sand heading in the same direction. It was mid-morning so the footprints could have been from the night before but the Doctor had begun to follow them so Donna hurried along in his wake.

They continued for quite some time, until the TARDIS was out of sight and they still had no idea where the footprints would end. At last they rounded a corner of the beach and saw something in the distance that made Donna's jaw drop: a group of people were crowded around the base of a statue of a giant foot. Muffled shouts reached her ears and she could tell that an argument was going on. One group of these people were surrounding an upturned metal container with something inside it. She turned to the Doctor.

'Now What?'

He looked at her and smiled again. 'Now, we go on another adventure', and with badly contained glee he began to walk down the remaining stretch of beach towards the statue with Donna hurrying to keep up.

**Thanks for reading. Please leave a review to let me know what you think. The next chapters will be up soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for my reviews – here's the next part hope you like it**

As they got closer to the base of the statue, snatches of conversation reached Donna's ears and she could put together an idea of what was going on. The group of people were waiting for somebody to come back outside, but whether that meant from inside the statue or from somewhere else was anyone's guess.

'We shouldn't just be waiting here for them to come out again!' one woman was saying in a raised voice. 'God knows what is going on in there between them two, and if Linus is in there with them then anything could happen!'

'I've already told you,' the man to whom she was talking replied in a strained but still loud tone. 'Only our leader can request an audience with Jacob and since our leader is dead and inside a metal box, nobody is going in until Jacob comes out! That's the rules.' At that point he broke off talking to her and looked straight up toward Donna and the Doctor, who were getting closer now and could see what was going on quite clearly.

Squinting into the sun and with his hand held up to block out the glare so as to get a good look at the approaching newcomers, Donna could not make out the characteristics of his face but soon enough they had arrived in the shadow of the statue and were quickly being surrounded by the crowd. Many of the group held guns or knives and looked suspiciously towards them. The woman who had been shouting and another large set man moved to cover up the contents of the crate.

If this had happened to Donna a year ago; if she had been surrounded by savage-looking men and women who armed themselves with guns and knives, then she would have probably screamed in their faces and collapsed. The first time that she had ever met the Doctor, she had screamed and shouted at him, threatened him, called him names and almost had a nervous breakdown all because she was going to miss her wedding. She had definitely changed a lot since becoming the Doctor's full-time companion! Now, when she found herself in a situation like this (which was becoming increasingly regular), she simply stood quietly and let the Doctor work things out. Of course, that was after she had thrown in a bit of name-calling and some of her trademark fiery temper – a person can't change _that_ much in one year!

'It's fine, it's okay!' shouted the man in the centre to the crowd around him. 'I know who these people are. Leave us for a while, we need to talk.'

The crowd dispersed, with two of the watchers taking the metal crate away with them. Donna was left standing beside the Doctor, with the other man opposite them looking into their faces as though they were old friends.

'Hello Doctor' said the man with a smile. He looked genuinely pleased – and a little relieved – to see them.

'Errm, hi there' replied the Doctor, returning the smile and giving Donna a quick sideways glance to make sure that she was keeping up to speed.

The man misunderstood this look and appeared to be feeling extremely guilty and he quickly added, 'I'm so sorry how rude of me. Hello to you too Donna.'

Donna did not know what to think. How did this man know their names? Why was he being so polite and why was he showing them such deep respect when they had never met before? She was dying to ask him who he was, but she knew that this was one of those times when she had to keep her mouth shut. So she stayed quiet and just smiled back at the man.

'It's been a while since we last spoke' said the man, addressing the Doctor again. 'It's good that you're here! There are things that we need to discuss. About Jacob!'

'Errm, yeah' said the Doctor, looking around at his surroundings and scratching his head. 'Can you just give me and Donna a second to have a chat? We'll be right back, thanks.'

The Doctor took Donna by the arm and steered her toward the tree line, where nobody was stood. When they got there they stood in the shadows of the trees and looked at each other properly for the first time since they had met the new people. The Doctor was smiling and looked giddy with the prospect of a new mystery.

'What the _Hell_ is going on?' asked Donna, feeling totally confused and out of her depth.

'I'm not entirely sure' replied the Doctor, glancing over his shoulder and watching the man who claimed to know them. He was stood next to the crate, talking again to the black haired woman who seemed to be in charge of it. 'I think we've got another case of what has happened to me before. Like when River Song knew me, but I hadn't met her yet. Or when Sally Sparrow recognised me on the street, but I didn't get in contact with her for another few weeks. And I still haven't found out what I've done to upset Elizabeth I. It's a bit confusing being me' he finished off, looking sheepish that, for once, he did not have all of the answers.

This hadn't made it any simpler for Donna though. 'So, let me get this right' she started, thinking hard about what she was trying to wrap her head around. 'In the normal time line, i.e. in his past, we have already met him. But because we travel in time, things don't happen in the right order for us, so in our future, we must travel back in time and meet him so that he can recognise us in our present? Seriously, I love travelling the universe with you, but you'd think they'd make it a bit easier to understand!'

'That's the only possibility I can think of' he said whilst smiling at her. 'And we must have done something when we first met him to impress him, since he seems to worship us.'

After a few more minutes talking and developing a plan, the Doctor went back to talk to the man, and Donna walked off into the crowd to gather information.

She had no idea how she was going to go about this. Everybody here looked as though they had been living out in the jungle for years (and she realized with a pitying thought that they probably had been), and she didn't want to chance getting too close to any of them. The only people who looked anywhere near well groomed were those crowded around the metal box, and she was going to give them a wide berth: they were looking around with shifty eyes and from time to time were throwing dark glances at the statue of the foot.

Donna had been thinking about the statue ever since she had seen it. It was obviously not a pressing matter – the most important thing about it seemed to be who was inside it (she could make out a shadowy entrance hole in the plinth) – but she could not help wondering what had happened to the rest of the statue. By the size of the foot, which was all that remained now and was clad in an old fashioned sandal, the complete statue must at one time have been at least 250 feet tall.

She was still thinking about this when she spotted a woman sat alone, away from the others. She was sat on some rocks, watching Donna with a curious look in her eyes. Instinctively, Donna knew that this woman was not of the same kind of people as the rest. She was dressed in a smart blouse and jeans with a beige coat and, from her appearance, was of Asian descent. She smiled at Donna and Donna walked forward to join her.

'Hiya!' chirped Donna, sitting down beside her and turning to face her. 'I'm Donna and he's the Doctor' she pointed over to the Doctor, who was busy talking to the mysterious man a short distance away.

'He's a Doctor?' asked the woman, looking towards him. 'We had a Doctor once, but now he's in Dharma times with my husband.'

Donna was nonplussed by this, and had no idea what Dharma was, so she addressed her first question. 'He's not _a _Doctor, he's _the_ Doctor!' the woman looked just as confused by this as Donna felt, which made her feel a little happier, and more than a little more confident.

'My name is Sun' said the woman after a few seconds silence. 'How does the Doctor know Richard?'

So that was the mysterious man's name, thought Donna to herself. She had no idea what to say to Sun so she just said 'Oh we all go way back.' She then had to look away again, just to hide the roll that her eyes automatically did in her head.

Now that she knew who the man was, she thought that she had better start gathering information. She started with the basics. 'So, what's going on here then?'

Sun looked hesitant, and then launched into a massive explanation. It sounded as though Sun did not understand all of it herself, and it was so confusing that Donna could only pick out a few key details. Apparently, there was a dead body in the metal crate, whose identity had been stolen by another man. This man had then gone into the statue with a man called Ben, and they had been in there since last night. They were now waiting for them to come back out, so that they could find out what had happened inside.

Donna's head hurt, and it was obvious that Sun had just succeeded in confusing herself as well with her bad explanation. What Donna could understand though was that Sun was apparently not new to the island, but had been away for a while and had recently returned on a crashed airplane.

Donna decided to risk asking the main question on her mind. 'Do you know anything about the time travelling that has been occurring on this island recently?'

Sun looked thoughtful, then said 'No not really, except that my husband and some others are now in Dharma times,' she saw the confused look on Donna's face and added 'the 1970s. Richard probably knows more about it if you ask.'

Donna was pretty sure that the Doctor was doing just that. She thanked Sun and walked back over to the Doctor, who had just finished talking to Richard. They went and sat in the shade of the overhanging trees and pooled their information.

'That guy seems to fill the role of a sort of adviser to these people,' the Doctor said. Donna told him that his name was Richard and the Doctor nodded in acknowledgment. 'Its clear that there is a ruler of these people, an almost God-like figure, as well as an earthly leader which changes from time to time. Anyway, it seems as though what we are looking for is in the past – about three years ago actually. That was when the time jumps apparently started, so that's where we'll go.'

The Doctor and Donna had already walked away, rounded the corner and entered the awaiting TARDIS by the time the two figures emerged from the base of the statue. One of them was weak and defeated-looking, whereas the other looked out at the crowd of people gathered around him. Then he laughed.

'You are all fools!' he shouted out at them, 'for believing that the Doctor and Donna are anything more than mere impostors! They have never been important and you all bowed to them like fools!'

Richard and Sun stared out over the sand in the direction that the two travelers had walked, Sun looking confused and Richard feeling used, foolish and unsure. They both gasped audibly and took a few shaky steps forward as they heard the whooshing sound of the TARDIS – a sound which was new to Sun and one which Richard had not heard for many, many years.

**Thanks for reading - Please leave a comment or review. Thanks**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone, sorry for the lateness of this post – work keeps me pretty busy these days. Enjoy and please leave a review.**

'So, where now?' asked Donna as the TARDIS left the beach of the present day and moved through time and space towards their destination.

'As I said,' replied the Doctor as the TARDIS came to a stop with a small shudder and he walked forward towards the doors, 'the answer to our big question lies three years in the past of this Island. That's when the time-flashes stopped in the linear timeline.'

Donna tried to work out what this meant, and realised that she was completely confused. 'What do you mean? Linear timeline?'

The Doctor thought for a moment about how to explain this to her. At last, he took a deep breath and gave it a go: 'Well, Richard told me that, whilst most of the people on the Island, including him and most of those people that we just met, were treated by the time travel process as part of the Island and therefore did not experience the time-flashes –'

'– You mean they just stayed where they were?'

'Yes, they just moved in the same pattern as the Island, therefore remaining in the same time period and therefore not experiencing anything for the most part. However, a small group of people remained anchored by something in the same time – about three years ago when the flashes first started. Because of this, they saw the Island change around them as it skipped forward and backwards through time, unable to move with it. Richard experienced one of them disappear in front of him at the very beginning of the jumps. Of course this is what it looked like but it was actually Richard and the Island disappearing; only Richard could not notice it.'

'You do realise that you have just confused me more than EVER before, don't you?' said Donna with a sigh. She thought that she understood most of it though.

'Sorry, it's a bit confusing to me too to be honest', said the Doctor as he frowned and concentrated. 'It's a total anomaly – it shouldn't be allowed to happen!'

They both sat in silence for a while longer, thinking hard. Finally, Donna spoke. 'So how long did the time-flash-things last for?'

'Well, Richard said that he saw them across three different time periods during their travels. He clocked two of them at quite a short amount of time – only a few hours – before they disappeared again. It seems that this ordeal lasted about five or six linear days for the travellers, before they were left in their final destination.'

'And where was that?'

'Richard didn't say, but if they are still alive, and their passage of time is the same length of that which has past in the present time, then they have been there for three years.'

'THREE YEARS!?'

'Hmm' said the Doctor, now turning his attention to the controls of the TARDIS, locking it in place. 'Why? Does that surprise you?'

'Well, yeah' she replied, thinking it over. 'I mean, I absolutely love travelling with you, and I want to carry on doing it forever, but if I was stuck in a time or on a planet that wasn't where I am supposed to be for three years, knowing that I might never get back to see my family or friends…' she suddenly remembered what Sun had said, about her husband being stuck in the 1970s. She told the Doctor.

'Dharma?' repeated the Doctor, looking confused. 'What's Dharma?'

'No idea, she never said. The only thing that she said was that it was in the 1970s. That has to be where the time-flashes ended!' Donna was impressed and a little surprised that she had managed to make this breakthrough.

'Yeah, you're right' said the Doctor, 'but we still need a more accurate date. Ten years is a long time. And we still have work to do here. We need to find out what caused the flashes, and what caused them to stop.'

The Doctor walked forward towards the doors of the TARDIS and opened them cautiously, peeking around them to see where they were. When it was clear that there was no danger, he flung them open and motioned for Donna to follow him outside.

They had arrived at night. There was very little light by which to see anything, except for that which spilled out of the open doors of the TARDIS. As the Doctor went back inside to get some torches so that they could see where they were going, Donna looked around and could just make out the dark silhouettes of buildings and a towering pine tree a short distance away. She could also make out the skeleton of a pagoda just to her left. They had landed in the middle of a village green of sorts, but by the unmistakeable sounds of the jungle and the humidity of the night air, she was left with no doubt in mind that they were still on the same Island. The place looked and felt deserted.

The Doctor returned and they advanced on one of the buildings, each holding an electric torch so that they could see where they were going. Donna could see that most of the houses were only built on one level, but there was one house that had two floors. This was the house that Donna and the Doctor were heading towards.

As they walked, Donna noticed that one house, just across from the two-level house, was in ruin and appeared to have been blown up fairly recently. As they made it to the door of the big house, Donna saw that it was wide open and had an assortment of furniture piled up and strewn all over the floor directly inside. It looked as though it had been barricaded from the inside and then opened up quickly to escape – or opened forcibly from outside.

As they went inside, the first thing that they noticed was that the window of the main room had been smashed through, and judging by the large amount of glass on the carpet, it had been smashed from the outside. The Doctor flicked some switches on the wall and lights came on all over the house. Donna was dazzled by the sudden brightness and closed her eyes for a few seconds as her eyes adjusted. Squinting around, the first thing that she saw was that one of the bookcases was pulled away from its original position against the wall and was lying on its side in the middle of the room, its books discarded and scattered in every direction. Behind it had been hidden a secret door, which the Doctor proceeded through, telling Donna to wait behind.

She wandered around the hectic room looking for something suspicious, like she had during her short investigative career just before she met the Doctor. Her eyes fell upon a file on the kitchen counter which also had a video cassette on top of it. She was at the point of picking it up when the Doctor walked back in carrying four or five passports, all from different countries. He spread them across the counter and Donna picked one of them up and opened it.

Inside it there was a picture of a man. The name given by the passport was Dean Moriarty. She picked up another and looked at it. She was shocked to see that it was a photo of the same man. The name was different though – it read: Benjamin Linus. Donna pointed this out to the Doctor.

'I know. There are loads of them in there' he said, pointing over his shoulder towards the concealed room. 'Some of them say Dean Moriarty; some of them say Benjamin Linus. And there are loads for lots of different countries: Canada, Switzerland, USA, UK, Brazil, Japan, the list goes on…'

'Whoever he is, he's obviously important' said Donna. 'I mean, he has fake passports, a secret room, not to mention the biggest house in the area…but which is his real name? Dean or Ben?'

'I'm gonna go with Ben' said the Doctor. 'Richard talked about a "Ben" being the cause of the time flashes!'

'Oh my God!' said Donna, suddenly remembering something important. 'That woman who I spoke to whilst you were with Richard said that Ben was inside the statue!'

The Doctor was looking excited again – the thrill of a new lead!

Donna slipped the file and the video under her coat so that they could watch it later in the TARDIS as the Doctor got ready to leave, putting the passports back where he found them.

'Well, it looks like we've found our man, then' said the Doctor as they made their way towards the door.

'You're exactly right' said a low voice from outside which made both of them jump. They backed back into the light of the house and two people followed them in out of the darkness. One was a man who looked to be in his 50s. The other was a younger girl with blond hair. She had a vague, distant look to her and walked slower than the man, entering the house behind him.

'First meetings usually warrant introductions' said the man, looking at the Doctor.

For once, the Doctor appeared speechless and did not answer. Donna didn't say anything either and just stared at the man. She had a strange feeling about the man and the girl. They were almost like ghosts.

The man was still waiting for someone to speak. When he realised that no one was going to say anything, he sighed and looked at Donna.

'My name is Christian' he said quietly, 'and this is my daughter Claire.'

'Pleased to meet you' said Claire, looking at Donna but with unfocused eyes and a distant voice.

The Doctor was still silent.

**Thanks for reading – sorry for the long wait. I had a lot of trouble writing the first part of this chapter (the explaining of the time travel) but hopefully it's not too complicated. Please review, as it keeps me motivated. Thanks again. **


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